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Committee introduces revised school transportation funding bill; virtual students removed from some reimbursements
Summary
RS 32642, introduced to the House Committee on Education, would rework school transportation reimbursements, rename district categories, exclude virtual students from certain funding, and allow alternative smaller vehicles to be reimbursed for some routes.
Representative Dan Garner introduced RS 32642 and described it as a revision of an earlier proposal. The RS renames school districts as "authorized transportation districts," revises reimbursement calculations, and excludes students educated primarily through home-based or virtual programs from some support-unit funding.
"We took the block grant out...we were getting a lot of grief about people not understanding the block grant," Garner said, then clarified during testimony that the block grant remains in the statute but the RS changes how virtual students are treated. Gideon Tullman of the State Department of Education told the committee the RS adds language excluding support units attributable to students educated primarily through home-based or virtual programs, which is why some districts on the sponsor spreadsheet show reduced reimbursements.
The spreadsheet accompanying the RS (provided to the committee) lists districts' total transportation costs, current reimbursements, and expected reimbursements under the new formula. Representative Jack Nelson explained the spreadsheet shows most districts would see some increase in reimbursement, though small rural districts with extensive mileage would still face funding challenges. Committee members and staff noted a $7,500,000 appropriation exists in statute that had never been distributed; the sponsors said the spreadsheet would incorporate that statutory money when allocations are finalized.
RS 32642 also allows smaller, alternative vehicles (minivans, short buses) to be used and reimbursed for routes such as special-needs transport or small extracurricular groups; the RS leaves safety and training requirements to local districts, while clarifying that drivers of standard school buses that meet the statutory passenger threshold must still hold commercial driver's licenses (CDLs). Committee discussion confirmed that fully virtual schools (standalone virtual academies) are treated differently from brick-and-mortar districts that offer virtual programs: the exclusion applies to virtual components within districts, not to standalone virtual schools that do not operate buses.
Representative Harris moved to introduce RS 32642; the committee approved the motion by voice vote and the RS was introduced for further hearings. Committee members requested that sponsors return with a companion RS removing the virtual-student reimbursement language so the virtual funding issue can be considered separately.
